University fees may cost Blair his job

Tony Blair has moved to head off a parliamentary defeat by offering backbench rebels concessions on plans to introduce HECS-style fees for students.

The British Prime Minister has staked his authority on being able to push through moves to charge students up to £3000 ($7100) a year for tuition once they earn more than £15,000 a year.

But faced with a revolt this month by up to 150 Labour MPs, about double the number needed to defeat the Government, Mr Blair's Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, has unveiled a series of changes to ease the impact on poorer students. They include increasing grants and loans to students and expunging all student debt after 25 years.

Labour strategists were unclear whether the concessions would be enough to save Mr Blair from defeat in parliament when the legislation comes to the vote.

Though some MPs indicated they had been won over, others, possibly as many as 100, remain fiercely opposed to the plans because they allow fees to vary between universities.

They fear this will create a two-tier market that will favour students from more privileged backgrounds who are able to pay the highest fees.

Mr Clarke got a hostile response from Labour backbenchers as he told the House of Commons the legislation was a "coherent package to be taken as a whole or not all all . . . It is not a pick and mix menu."

The plans have been broadly supported by universities, though a group representing the country's 19 leading institutions has said the concessions are too generous.

Mr Blair's troubles with the new fees come as he prepares to receive the findings of the Hutton inquiry into the death of David Kelly, the weapons scientist who killed himself after being revealed as the source of embarrassing revelations about Iraq.

Under sustained questioning from the Conservative opposition, Mr Blair has conceded he would resign as prime minister if the Hutton inquiry found he had lied to parliament about his role in the naming of Dr Kelly.

By attacking Mr Blair before publication of the report, the new Tory leader, Michael Howard, has signalled he considers the Prime Minister personally responsible for the death of Dr Kelly.